New Alisons Montessori giveaway!!

Two new chances to win with Alisons Montessori. Land and water form cabinet, and leaf cabinet. Click this link for more info. http://livingmontessorinow.com/2011/11/15/giveaway-alisons-montessori-materials-worth-300/ Great prizes worth $300 :) Whoo hoo

Geodes

We have this neat little shop in our town called "Cool Stuff" and he loves rocks and minerals. He has a number of different minerals to sell, and one of them is Geodes. He said the trick to find one that would be hollow was finding one that was light compared to the others for it's size. Some Geodes will be solid inside, but I think the prettiest ones are hollow with neat crystals growing inside. So this is the rock we picked. We found what looked to be a natural line around the rock, and took turns pounding on it. I think we did a pretty good job. :) We picked good, our rock was absolutely beautiful. :) Now we want to try growing our own in empty egg shells. We hear you can mix water and epson salt and it grows in maybe 30min. to an hr. :) Add a couple drops of food coloring and you'll have colored crystals.

Diagramming Sentences Montessori Style

We've started out with just simple subjects and predicates. Better known as the noun and verb I suppose. My son hated to just diagram his Eng. book sentences so I dug out the words we had used for the Montessori farm, and they worked perfect.

I even found a little fishing tackle box to fit them in nice and neat. :) I tell my son how many sentences he should write on his paper, and he builds them, diagrams them, and then writes them on his paper. :) It made all the difference just being able to make up his own sentences.

Homemade Slime! :)

Another great project to make with your children.

Take 3/4 c. warm water

1 cup of white glue.
Add a couple drops of your favorite color and mix well.

In another bowl put 1 1/3 warm water.
4 t. of borax and mix.

Now take the first bowl and pour it into the second bowl w/ the borax mixture, and with out mixing let it sit for 1 minute.

Your slime is DONE! Enjoy, simply store in an airtight container or ziplock bag!

Oh... and if you're children are as disturbingly amused as mine, with a strange attraction to the sounds of gas leaving their bodies,

add your goo to a small container (our favorite is a small laundry measuring cup) and as you push your fingers into it air will come out along with an obnoxious sound that will leave your children in hysterical straights! :) lol

Hey, just had a thought.... this would make a perfect Easter egg stuffer! :)

Dissecting a seed

We planted seeds today, and I wanted the children to see how a seed sprouts, so we dissected a giant lima bean. I had soaked it over night, then today I sliced it open for them to identify the 3 main parts of the seed. The first picture above, I found when I googled lima bean photo's and it shows the three main parts. The outer skin, the meaty part that the embryo feeds on as it grows, and the embryo itself that grows into the plant. Below is our seed up close. They found this so very interesting, and since the bean was so large, it was easy to identify the different parts. To the left is our seed dissected, and to then the other pictures are their investigations.

Even my 2.5 yr. old thought it was fascinating. Fun fun fun. :) Hello, and welcome Spring!

Sprouting seeds

I found this great idea in the Family Fun magazine. The photo above is what I tore out of the magazine, until I had the time to do the project.




We finally took the time to get our seeds started today. It's a little messy trying to get the soil in the little pockets, so I recommend doing that outside. :) My son planted okra, and squash. My oldest daughter loves tomatoes and pickles so she planted two kinds of tomatoes and some cucumbers.

My youngest had to get in on the fun with big brother and sister, and so she planted more cucumbers and some dill. We're hoping to make a little playhouse out of the cucumber vines. So... we needed several cucumber plants. We're probably going to have cucumbers out our ears. :) lol

We used baseball card protective sheets, filled each pocket with soil, watered it with a turkey baster, and added a seed or two. I've placed them in the laundry room to sprout and in a couple days we'll attach them with suction cups to the window to grow in the sun. :)

Nice space saving idea huh! Also since the protective sheets are clear, the children will be able to watch the roots grow. We also dissected a lima bean today to see the parts of a seed. I'll try to post that later. :)


Here the seeds are a week later growing quick. Note how well you can see the roots growing through the clear plastic on the right. Pretty neat for the children. My oldest noticed his new sprout turning from yellow to green in the window today. I think it might be time to study photosynthesis. :) See the outer layer of our cucumber seeds skin there on your left? My children can see how their seed "really" grew into this plant.

Math & Language For the Child that Loves to Draw

We recently had the opportunity to try out some files generated by Diane with Gentle Shepherd off currclick and my 5 yr. old daughter just really loved them.

She loves to draw, and this approach just really clicked with her. She is practicing following directions, reading, writing, and art all at once and absolutely enjoying it. :) Cool!


She just can't seem to get enough of this. Thanks Diane for a great idea.